My aunt was busy for an entire hour, kneading the dough, rolling out the dough, and wrapping the dumplings. Apart from muttering to herself, "It's such a hassle! It's such a hassle!", she had no other choice but to do what she had to do.
After she finished wrapping the wontons, she started to worry about the stove.
These guys have never been used?
The key point is, even in her hometown, she has never cooked since her eldest daughter-in-law came into the family!
Auntie sighed and climbed back upstairs to ask Old Madam Chu...
"Why don't you understand anything? Why are you asking me about this?
Erya, you said you just wanted to eat some wontons, why are you so troublesome? Is it that difficult?!
Well, Old Mrs. Chu didn't say a single useful word. She leaned back against the headboard with her brows furrowed, sighing with every word she spoke. Her sighs were so severe that my aunt almost couldn't breathe.
The aunt, who was over seventy years old, could not bear it any longer. She waved her withered hands and said,
"Oh my god, big sister, please stop wasting time, all right! All right! Just wait, I'll go figure it out myself!"
It was almost midnight before they finished preparing this bowl of steaming hot wontons, and finally brought it upstairs and handed it to Old Mrs. Chu.
My aunt sat cross-legged on the bed and glanced at Old Madam Chu.
Seeing her elder sister finally eating in peace with a spoon in hand, she turned around and picked up the pipe at the foot of the bed. She had just lit it and taken a couple of puffs, ready to take a break when...
"Ah!" The spoon was thrown back into the bowl with a snap.
"Sister, what's wrong with you?"
"Hey, stop sitting on the bed and smoking! I have an electric blanket here. How did you set it on fire? With my legs and feet, I can't even run away. Wouldn't that burn me to death?"
My aunt took a deep breath and endured it by breathing in and out.
…
Old Mrs. Chu crossed her hands on her lower abdomen. She raised her eyelids and looked at the half-open bedroom door. She felt extremely uncomfortable both physically and mentally at this moment.
If the person sitting in front of her wasn't her own sister, she could still find some fault to vent her anger.
But it was Erya, and she couldn't bear to let her go, so she was also suppressing herself.
In the middle of the night, she couldn't get rid of the depression in her chest.
My aunt panicked: "Sister, what's wrong with you?"
She thought she couldn't see clearly, and without caring about finishing the tobacco leaves, she quickly stepped forward and looked at her sister closely with her cloudy eyes.
When she found out that her elder sister was really not provoked or bothered by anyone, she cried.
"Datianer hasn't come back? It seems like he won't be coming back! This is the first time! This is the first time he wants his wife and not me!"
Old Madam Chu's eyes were fixed on the half-open door, tears falling drop by drop.
"Erya, is he going to leave me alone? Are we the only two left in this building from now on?"
Tears slowly filled Mrs. Chu's wrinkled face.
She started to get scared.
She couldn't imagine what she would do if her eldest son didn't want her anymore and really no longer took her seriously.
Only a pair of shriveled hands instantly grabbed Old Mrs. Chu, and my aunt cried with empathy.
One is eighty years old and the other is over seventy years old. Apart from the fights between the East and West Liga, they haven't had the time to calm down and comfort each other for a long time.
Auntie wiped Old Lady Chu's face and advised:
"Don't cry, sister. Don't cry." At the same time, she was crying harder than anyone else.
Auntie was sniffing her nose, the smell of tobacco oil still wafting from her mouth, and she said to Old Madam Chu in a sincere and soothing tone:
"Don't be afraid, big sister. We have Erya! I gave birth to three boys. Any one of them can take care of you in your old age and even carry the spirit banner for you!"
The phrase "carrying the spirit banner" reveals what's on Mrs. Chu's mind!
She remembered vividly that when her father died, her family had no one to carry the spirit banner. That situation was truly dire in the countryside back then! They were even cursed by their neighbors as a family with no descendants.
But she had given birth to two sons, one of whom was gone, and it seemed like the other one didn't want her anymore. She wished Chu Hongtian could give her the same filial piety that Chu Hongchi had.
Waiting for the day she leaves? ...
Old Mrs. Chu touched her chest and gasped for breath. She made up her mind: when Chu Hongtian comes home again, she will pretend to be dead even if it means she is committing suicide, in order to scare Chu Hongtian and win his eldest son's heart away from his eldest daughter-in-law.
Old Mrs. Chu glanced at the bowl with tearful eyes. No, she had to live well. Even though she was trying to scare Datianer, she hadn't lived enough.
She has to eat, drink and live well!
Auntie was still crying with excitement when Old Madam Chu suddenly said:
"I can't poop, how can I eat it? Erya!"
…
The light in a window on the second floor of the three-story Western-style building was on all night.
The aunt first helped the old lady who couldn't get up to defecate. She did this for more than half an hour, making the old lady Chu cry out in pain, but the aunt had to endure the excrement on her hands.
Then they opened the windows to let the smell out. It was the middle of the night, and it was the coldest time of the year, just before New Year's Day. The old lady lay down in bed and nothing happened. My aunt was coming in and out, washing her hands and opening and closing the windows. Within two hours, she felt dizzy and her mind was fuzzy.
After the window was closed, Mrs. Chu started to stir again...
"Er Ya, can you heat up these wontons? I haven't eaten anything yet and I'm already hungry! Don't be bothered. If I have diarrhea after eating this cold food, you'll be the one who suffers."
"Erya, we need to change the sheets now. We can't sleep in a shithole, right?"
"Er Ya..."
"Arya?"
After a night of this, my aunt was so upset she couldn't even get up. Her hair, which was usually neatly combed, was now unkempt, and she went downstairs to take the breakfast box from the orderly.
Old Mrs. Chu also felt very aggrieved. She had tried her best not to trouble her own sister, but why did her sister actually slap her thigh and cry and say that she was a jingyin (intentional)!
If she really is Jingyin's daughter, then she is targeting her eldest daughter-in-law Liang Yinqiu, right?
But isn't it natural for her to do these things? She doesn't even need to complain about her eldest daughter-in-law, she has her work cut out for her!
I can also carry her downstairs to sit in the living room.
…
Finally, the old lady remembered Liang Yinqiu, who was a bit "good" after the comparison. She stared at Chu Hongtian on the hospital bed with swollen eyes. Chu Hongtian also woke up at this time:
"Why are you staring at me with those two eyes? I can't even sleep well because of this guy! I'm not dead, am I? Look at your eyes, they're crying! You look like you're doomed!"
Liang Yinqiu breathed a sigh of relief.
It sounds okay, still has that loud voice, it seems like he won't die.
She stood up, without saying a word, turned around and picked up the thermos bucket on the coffee table, poured out a cup of millet porridge, and took a spoon.
After completing a series of instinctive actions, she froze in place with her back facing Chu Hongtian awkwardly.
Chu Hongtian looked at Liang Yinqiu's back and sighed:
"You, Liang Yinqiu, you are even more vicious than the Japs!
I wasn't defeated by the Japanese, I was defeated by your few words.
Xiaoqiu, you, the leader! (To be continued.)
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